A well-known face in the central Victorian town, Krystal Fraser was returning from Bendigo hospital where it was planned she would give birth.

But instead of awaiting the arrival of her first child – a boy she wanted to name Ryan – Krystal discharged herself and made a trip with which she was very familiar.

The 23-year-old, who lived with a mild intellectual disability, often travelled up and down the rail line, hopping on and off at stops between Bendigo and Swan Hill.

After reaching Pyramid Hill at 8.30pm, she stopped in at a friend’s house in Albert Street and headed for home an hour later.

It was the last known sighting of the 23-year-old.

Records show she later answered a phone call from a telephone box in Leitchville, 32 kilometres from Pyramid Hill.

Mobile towers then showed her phone headed east towards the neighbouring town, strange for someone who did not drive.

Victoria Police homicide detectives believe she was murdered but her remains have never been recovered.

Life after death

The family of Krystal Fraser continues to be confounded about what happened on June 20, 2009.

On the eighth anniversary of Krystal’s disappearance, her mother Karen Fraser said the family was “in limbo” while they awaited news of developments.

She still has more questions than answers.

“If she walked down the street and got hit by a bus, I'd have a body and have an answer,” Ms Fraser said.

“How can I farewell her or do anything like that, if I don't know what's happened to her?

“What's the point in having a funeral or anything like that, if we don't know?

“People say, ‘have you grieved?'

“I don't know what I am grieving for.”

Ms Fraser described as frustrating the lack of progress in her daughter’s case.

She has not received any updates from police since they announced last year a report about the investigation would be compiled for the Victorian coroner.

At the time, it was considered the most significant development since June, 2012, when a $100,000 reward was issued for information that solved the mystery.

But the reward failed to attract any new leads for police and the report is yet to be lodged with the state’s coroner.

A Victoria Police spokesman said the coroner would have several options after receiving the police report.

They may approve of the investigation to date, instruct police to pursue new lines of inquiry or ask they revisit some evidence.

A coroner’s inquest could also be ordered into Krystal’s case, and it was that option for which Ms Fraser hoped.

The mourning mother still lives in Pyramid Hill, the town with “too many memories (of Krystal) to remember”.

Conversations between Ms Fraser and her friends still returned to Krystal and Ryan.

“He would’ve been eight,” Ms Fraser said yesterday.

“I've got other grandchildren since then – a lot happens in eight years.”

Now it was a matter of “sitting and waiting” for Ms Fraser, who said she could not predict if or when Krystal’s case would be solved.

“I'd like to have a crystal ball, I don't have one.”

Asked what she wanted from the investigation, Ms Fraser’s answer was simple: “To bring her home.”

It is Ms Fraser’s belief someone knows what happened to her daughter.

”There has to be, there's no way out of Pyramid (Hill) after that train.

“She was nine months pregnant, she doesn't drive: how did she get out of town?”

“Stop hiding these things and tell the truth.”

Can you help?

Krystal Fraser was last seen about 9.40pm on June 20, 2009, at a home in Albert Street, Pyramid Hill.

She is described as 167 centimetres tall, with short brown hair and crooked teeth.

She was wearing an orange top, black track suit pants and a camouflaged-patterned baseball cap.

Krystal lived with a mild, undiagnosed intellectual disability, the result of bleeding on the brain at birth.

She also rarely strayed far from her phone, spending a large proportion of her time browsing the internet.

The fact she did not access the internet after her disappearance was the first sign something was wrong.

The identity of the father of Ms Fraser’s child remains unknown.

As well as the $100,000 reward, the Department of Public Prosecutions will also consider granting indemnification from prosecution to any person who provides information about the identity of Krystal’s killer or killers.

Krystal is one of 1600 long-term missing Australians. More than 38,000 people go missing in Australia every year, the large majority of whom are quickly located.

Anyone with new information about the disappearance of Krystal Fraser is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.